WICHITA, Kan. (WordNews.org) Jan. 8, 2021 — Pro-life group Operation Rescue released the results of its survey that found a total of 45 abortion facilities closed or were halted nationwide in 2020, resulting in one state without an active abortion facility.

Operation Rescue, based in Wichita, Kan., said Missouri has become the first abortion-free state, “at least in practice for now.” The Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, Missouri was the last abortion facility in Missouri. It remains open, but Operation Rescue has confirmed that all abortion appointments are now being referred to the Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood facility across the Mississippi River in Illinois.

Operation Rescue released its survey results in two parts. Below are highlights from the first installment:

• There are currently 706 active abortion facilities in the U.S.  Since Operation Rescue began tracking the number of abortion facilities in 2009, surgical abortion facilities have decreased in number by 255.
• Since 1991, there has been an incredible 79 percent drop in the number of surgical abortion facilities nationwide.
• There was a net loss of four U.S. abortion clinics overall in 2020.
• The number of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities decreased in 2020.
• The number of surgical abortion clinics continues to decline with six fewer today than last year at this time. In fact, the number of surgical abortion clinics has fallen each year for at least the past decade from 713 in 2009 to a record low of 458. That represents a decrease of 36 percent over the past ten years.
• Abortion pill facility numbers have been steadily on the rise over the past decade, increasing 47.2 percent in the past eleven years. Today, there are 248 facilities that abort only using chemical means – an increase of only three clinics nationwide in 2020 compared to 15 in 2019.

2020 also marks the first year that Operation Rescue tracked the number of facilities that distributed abortion drugs via telemedicine. The survey found that 69 locations, representing 9.78 percent of all abortion facilities, now operate telemedicine abortion programs.

“Overall, we are grateful for fewer active abortion facilities in 2020 and for the 45 clinics that closed or halted abortions,” said Troy Newman, Operation Rescue president. “With all the turmoil in our nation and the impact of the China Virus, 2020 could have been much worse for the unborn.”